


The Sum of Your Parts

by Aluxra



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Pre-Relationship, Season 5 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2019-03-26 13:59:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13859202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aluxra/pseuds/Aluxra
Summary: VLD Season 5 Ep. 6 Spoilers.Lotor and Allura speak about what happened in the temple of Oriande, and come to an understanding





	The Sum of Your Parts

**Author's Note:**

> I liked the new Season and the character interactions and development, but I didn't like that jump in the last episode between Lotor getting thrown out of the temple and then his nonchalant "Oriande was for you, not for me" line at the end was a little bit too neatly wrapped up and it makes me suspicious of his motives but I don't want to be suspicious cause I really, really, really want him to be a good guy...  
> SO I wrote a little ficlet just to tie the two scenes together and give a reason for his acceptance over losing his chance to learn the secrets of Altean Alchemy. Some hints at Lotura but nothing established; if this was to become a canon ship I'd love a slow burn with it.
> 
> Enjoy xXX

‘Lotor!’

Lotor slowly opened his eyes and raised his head from his hands, looking over his shoulder as Allura ran across the long path from the temple doors to where he sat on the stone steps outside, waving to hail him of her return. He straightened where he sat when she slowed to a halt beside him, bending forward with her hands on her knees to catch her breath. Her cheeks were flushed from exertion, though her face was illuminated with a dazzling, wide smile when she straightened again.

‘Lotor! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!’ she exclaimed with her first full breath of air. ‘I came back and you were nowhere to be seen. Where did you go? Did you see it? I couldn’t believe my eyes – I still can’t quite seem to wrap my head around it, and yet I feel like it all makes sense as well.’

She laughed, giddy and breathless, practically vibrating where she stood, pressing the back of her hand against her forehead. ‘I am hardly making any sense, now, am I? Though perhaps you understand what I mean, after going through it.’

‘No, Princess, I’m afraid to say I can’t,’ Lotor replied coolly, standing in one fluid motion. He kept his back to the temple; looking upon it was unbearable, the door lying open and waiting, yet he knew he could never step across the threshold ever again. Allura had gone silent, her confusion palpable in the air between them; her gaze burned the back of his neck, raising the hairs down the length of it.

‘What do you mean? What happened in there, Lotor?’

Lotor dropped his gaze to the ground, his hand curling into a fist at his side. He curbed the anger that threatened to rise in his chest, ugly and vicious. He forced it down with brute force, refusing to be consumed by those instincts for a second time that day, refusing more vehemently to take it out on Allura; he considered himself better than that, at the very least.

‘I… I did not make it past the White Lion,’ he confessed, squeezing his eyes shut as the still-raw memory replayed in his mind. A split-second decision; the wrong choice made. ‘I would not yield to it unless it killed me, so I struck it down, and it cast me out here, where I have awaited your return since.’

He laughed bitterly, scrubbing his fingers through his hair. Pushing a few loose strands back from his face, he tipped his head back and looked to the sky with a tight, scornful smile. ‘“Victory or death”, I truly am my father’s son.’

There was a pause while Allura absorbed the information, and Lotor awaited her judgement.

‘Lotor,’ she finally began, reaching out and resting her hand on his tightly clenched fist; she surely felt him trembling, yet she said nothing. She did not pull away, her fingers warm against his skin. ‘You are Zarkon’s son, yes, but you are not Zarkon himself. You have proven that, time and time again, even when we doubted you.’

‘And yet, when it came to the one test that mattered, I only proved myself more Galra than Altean,’ he replied.

Allura opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again, looking off into the distance. Her brow furrowed with her thoughts, her gaze far away as if in another time and place, perhaps lost in memory as well as thought, as she considered her next words. As the silence stretched between them, Lotor readied himself to suggest they leave and never speak of this place again when she looked up at him, and said decidedly: ‘Lotor, being a Galra – or half Galra – has nothing to do with whether or not you are a good person.’

She swung her free hand through the air, gesturing to the temple and the surrounding land. ‘Look at where we are - we are standing in the fabled land of Oriande! I thought this place merely existed in fairy tales and bedtime stories; but you believed it was true, you made _me_ believe it was true. You brought us here! Your Altean marks glowed as bright as mine! You were granted entrance by the Guardian, you were allowed to enter the heart of the temple; you proved yourself worthy to come this far, that must count for something!’

Lotor shook his head, briefly glancing at the splendour of the temple before he turned away again, his heart squeezing in his chest. ‘In the end, I still failed the test. I raised my blade against the White Lion, I –’

‘You did what you were raised to do. You did what you have been told your whole life was the only thing to do.’ Allura clasped his hand in both of hers, too small to enclose his hand completely. ‘You cannot expect yourself to instantly turn away from a lifetime of conditioning. It takes time to undo how you instinctively react to the unknown… and how, how you think, and react to others.’

Lotor looked up, meeting her eyes. She stepped in closer, squeezing his hand.

‘I am sorry, Lotor, for the way I previously treated you,’ she said. ‘I shouldn’t have judged the son for his father’s sins. You shouldn’t judge yourself based on his cruelty, either, or by being half Galra or half Altean. You are worth more than just the sum of your parts.’

‘Thank you, Princess,’ Lotor said after a pause, finding his voice after a short struggle. ‘I cannot express how much those words mean, coming from yourself.’

Allura smiled at him encouragingly, before it disappeared as she looked back at the temple with a sigh, her shoulders slumping with disappointment for him. ‘I am sorry that this didn’t turn out the way you had hoped.’

Lotor shrugged, withdrawing his hand from hers and curling it at his side again, flexing his fingers against the cloth of his coat. ‘This is not the first time I have been disappointed, I doubt it will be the last. All that remains is to accept the consequences of my choices and move on.’

Allura bit her lip, crossing her arms and looking between Lotor and the door. ‘Do you think, that perhaps there is some way you could –’

‘No,’ he cut her off before she could voice the futile hope that twisted in his chest. ‘No, we both know that there are no second chances in this place. It is done; it is time to move on.’

He looked over his shoulder at the temple one last time, swallowing the lump in his throat, before he packed away all the painful feelings that were trying to choke him, and pushed them down deep where they couldn’t hurt him, and began to descend the steps. A hand on his made him pause, and he turned his gaze to Allura standing by his side, a hesitant smile on her lips.

‘Lotor, for what it’s worth,’ she said. ‘I could never have done any of this without you. You drove us onward even when we didn’t believe you; I would not have even considered looking for this place and seeking out its secrets had it not been for you. I thank you for bringing me here and helping me gain the knowledge of my ancestors.’

Lotor returned her smile, his shoulders relaxing as he took her hand and offered a small bow over it.

‘Perhaps it was my destiny as one of the chosen to lead the true Altean Alchemist to Oriande, but not to gain the knowledge that is hidden here,’ he replied. ‘If that is the case, then my duty is complete, and all is as it should be.’

Allura stared at him carefully as he straightened, releasing her hand. ‘Lotor, are you sure you are alright?’

‘I will be fine, Your Highness,’ he replied with a reassuring smile. ‘Come on, we had best hurry back to the castle; your paladins will be wondering where we have gotten.’

‘You’re quite right, of course,’ Allura agreed, running to catch up to him as he began to descend the steps again, idly rubbing his thumb over his fingers that had held hers.


End file.
